Power-driven mowing machines are extensively used for cutting grass in commercial, home, and institutional applications. These mowing machines typically include a tractor-like motorized vehicle, with one or more mowers carried by the vehicle. Rotary lawn mowers carried by tractors or the like frequently are called "cutting decks", and each cutting deck generally mows a swath along a path determined by the travel of the tractor itself. Where the cutting deck is mounted beneath the tractor or otherwise is substantially in line with the longitudinal axis of the tractor, the cutting path is substantially aligned with the travel path of the tractor.
The maneuverability of tractor-carried mowing decks depends on the maneuverability of the tractor, and on the mounting location of the mowing deck. The width of the swath cut by the mowing deck in many mowing machines is substantially the same as the track width of the tractor or other vehicle carrying the mowing machine, which prevents mowing areas that the tractor cannot safely or conveniently traverse. For example, such mowing machines cannot mow under shrubbery, and usually cannot mow particularly close to ditches or other obstacles on the area being mowed. Mowing grass atop sea walls present similar problems to prior-art mowing machines, where driving the tractor up to the edge of the sea wall is extremely hazardous.
Previously, the grass remaining uncut beneath shrubbery and other obstacles to tractor-mounted mowing machines was cut by hand mowers or line trimmers. This arrangement is expensive and time-consuming. Side-deck mowers are known and are useful in some applications, but those mowers are much more expensive than center-mounted mowers and still may not be capable of cutting close to obstacles in some situations.